Date: Wed, 04 Jan 95 08:46:56 EST Errors-To: Comp-privacy Error Handler From: Computer Privacy Digest Moderator To: Comp-privacy@uwm.edu Subject: Computer Privacy Digest V6#002 Computer Privacy Digest Wed, 04 Jan 95 Volume 6 : Issue: 002 Today's Topics: Moderator: Leonard P. Levine False Data Re: Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Cordless Phone Privacy Re: Social Security and the Green Card Re: Social Security and the Green Card Re: School Monitoring Postal Inspection Re: 3 Hits and You're Out Digital Cash and Security of the Net Info on CPD [unchanged since 12/29/94] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" Date: 02 Jan 1995 09:53:18 -0600 (CST) Subject: False Data Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee This was taken from the newsgroup alt.privacy: It has been said that: People frequently post articles in this newsgroup suggesting a tactic of giving false information about one's identity. Apparently many poor souls are unaware of just how far systematic intrusion and the legally-enforced loss of one's privacy have actually progressed: WOMAN JAILED FOR GIVING STORE FALSE ADDRESS TIFTON, Ga. -- A 69-year-old woman spent 44 days in jail for giving a Wal-Mart store a false address when she sought a $13 refund for nail-clippers and a disposable razor.... It is illegal in Georgia to give a false name or address when seeking a refund. Judge R.R. Buckley [had] imposed a year's sentence ... Mrs. Waire was released Tuesday after paying part of the [$300] fine.... - Washington Times April 2, 1993 B6 whmurray@aol.com (WHMurray) stated: Even in the absence of such a specific provision, it is illegal in all states to give false information in an attempt to get money. It is called "fraud." One need not seek the money or not provide any information at all. However, if one elects to do both, the information must be correct to the best of one's knowledge. jeffl10593@aol.com (JeffL10593) stated: It is my understanding from a RS manager, that employees are expected to produce a specific percentage of names and addresses for their sales slips, and also are downrated if they do not have more than one item on a sales slip, even if that item is a $1,000 computer. gfarobin@aol.com (GFA Robin) writes: Yes, we are asked to get a certain percentage, 85% to be exact. If the salesperson asks every customer, they will get 85%. Most folks don't object to giving the information and we have several folks under the numbers 1111, 2222, 3333 etc.... On Dec 30 I went to the Radio Shack at 807 E. Capital Drive in Milwaukee Wisconsin and purchased an adapter plug (part 274-325) for $1.59. When asked for my phone number I gave them the random string 4234 and when I was asked if my name was Maldonaldo, I said "sure". So now I have a receipt with a copy of Mr Maldonaldo's address, phone number and zip and area codes. I sure hope they were as phoney as what I would have given them for this essentially cash, no warantee transaction. The problem is that there are some items that I WANT Radio Shack to know my address about. When I purchase something worth more than $100, I expect a warantee and the Shack has stood behind their warantees for me in the past. Why should some reasonable person who guesses my 4 digit phone number to avoid bother get the rest of my vitals? It is, for Radio Shack, a stupid, self damaging way of collecting bad data. Their management must be aware by now of just how ineffective it is. I cannot imagine why they continue it. -- Leonard P. Levine e-mail levine@cs.uwm.edu Professor, Computer Science Office 1-414-229-5170 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Fax 1-414-229-6958 Box 784, Milwaukee, WI 53201 PGP Public Key: finger llevine@blatz.cs.uwm.edu ------------------------------ From: eck@panix.com (Mark Eckenwiler) Date: 02 Jan 1995 15:07:20 -0500 Subject: Re: Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Cordless Phone Privacy Organization: Saltieri, Poore, Nash, deBrutus & Short, Attorneys at Law jeffn@meaddata.com sez: The Ohio Supreme Court, in a recent 7-0 decision to uphold the 1991 conviction of Ivo Bidinost Jr. for child-rape, said that the recordings of cordless telephone conversations used in the 1991 case are illegal. According to the Dayton Daily News of 01 Jan 95 the Court went further to say that privacy is a right no matter the technology. Of course, the recent federal Digital Telephony legislation amended Title III to make it a federal felony to intercept cordless phone communications. -- Qbrf Xvob purpx sbe EBG13 ersreraprf gbb? Mark Eckenwiler eck@panix.com ------------------------------ From: jimfranklin@BIX.com (Jim Franklin) Date: 02 Jan 1995 14:48:58 Subject: Re: Social Security and the Green Card Organization: Jim Franklin jimfranklin@bix.com I am an legal immigrant with 20 years in USA (Texas) and I have paid the full amount in SS every year for the last 20 years. Where can I find information what will happen to this money and the money my employer has paid in my SS acount. Is this money lost if I return to my home country (Denmark) or is it paid to me when I leave. Can I get my SS paid to me if I take residence in Denmark. I have tried to ask the SS office in Houston they told me Uncle Sam will get the money when I leave, I do not think this is right!!! I appriciate any answer. Jannick, The US Social Security system is not a pension plan but a pay-as-you-go social insurance plan. Your current contribution pays current benefits. If there are enough Americans working when you and I are old enough to be eligible for benefits, we will have a right to then current benefits. If you have paid SS tax over the 20 years, under the same account number, then you will have the right to apply for benefits at the appropriate age. But there is no separate fund for you to draw out and take with you if you decide to leave the US. I do believe that you would be able to have those benefits paid to you in Denmark when you are eligible, but you would do well to seek an opinion from a competent authority. Perhaps the nearest Danish consulate can help, or point you to resources. Organizations like the American Association of Retired Persons do great work with this kind of issue, or even the offices of the member of Congress representing the district in which you reside. I hope you won't think it arrogant but I would like to say thank you for the contributions that you and millions of other immigrants make to our nation. I hope you will feel comfortable enough to stay or revisit the United States if you are weighing options. -- Jim Franklin jimfranklin@bix.com CompuServe:74431,236 ------------------------------ From: jmcging@access.digex.net (John McGing) Date: 02 Jan 1995 15:57:49 -0500 Subject: Re: Social Security and the Green Card Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA Jannick Johnsson writes: I am an legal immigrant with 20 years in USA (Texas) and I have paid the full amount in SS every year for the last 20 years. Where can I find information what will happen to this money and the money my employer has paid in my SS acount. Is this money lost if I return to my home country (Denmark) or is it paid to me when I leave. Can I get my SS paid to me if I take residence in Denmark. I have tried to ask the SS office in Houston they told me Uncle Sam will get the money when I leave, I do not think this is right!!! I appriciate any answer. Jannick, At age 62 or above you can file for Social Security retirement here in the US at at the US Embassy in Denmark, if you live there. You will be entitled to a pensin based on your contributions into the system. If Denmark has a treaty with the US, it is possible that your work in the US could instead be used to qualify you for a pension under the Danish pension system. Details vary by country. Check your embassy for better details. Bottom line is that unless you reside in a country where payment is barred via US law (North Korea, for example) US Residence is not required to get a Social Security pension. (Explains why so many retirees live in Mexico; they (anglos) move there after retirement) -- jmcging@access.digex.net Nobody knows the troubles I've seen jmcging@ssa.gov .... and nobody cares! J.MCGING on GEnie 70142,1357 on Compuserve Team OS/2 ------------------------------ From: Kajae@aol.com Date: 03 Jan 1995 02:48:25 -0500 Subject: Re: School Monitoring I believe sometimes that with our attention focused on our own rights to privacy, we can forget the fact that it becomes necessary to give up a certain level of privacy in order to interact with other human beings. As it happens, I was skimming my latest copy of CP Digest while on the phone with my girlfriend. In the background I could hear her little brother yelling, screaming and making a general pest of himself. I (jokingly) made some offhand remark to her about how I wished that we both had video phones so I could see just what was going on over there. She replied that she was glad we didn't because she was laying in bed in her pajamas with her hair up, etc., and was glad that I couldn't see her like that. I laughed, but what she said made me think. If we *did* have video phones, and I called her, and she answered in her current state of dress, *knowing* that I could see her, she *would* be implicitly consenting to my seeing her in whatever state of dress she was in. (She also ran the risk of me talking about this in a forum available to just about anyone, but I don't make a habit of this - and when it happens for the sake of our own *privacy* I skimp on the details). And in the course of participating in this forum, others have shared some snippets of their personal lives with the general public for the sake of interaction and creating a greater social awareness about important issues (social security, ID's, credit checks, etc.). Real life day to day interactions carry the same implications whether we realize them or not. By speaking with me on the phone, my girlfriend gave me the ability to hear not just what she wanted me to hear, but pretty much everything that was happening in earshot. Carrying on a conversation in a public place carries the consequence that you might be overheard. Taking care of your normal banking lets a total stranger (the teller) know how you're conducting that area of your personal finances. And the list goes on. If you're a student at a major university with its own computer system (and I am) surely you realize it's necessary to use a system that is being monitored to one degree or another. And I for one welcome the degree of monitoring that you've discussed. Imagine what it would be like if none it was there - no system security, viruses running loose, stolen papers and the like. The potential dangers to everyone are far greater than just the one danger to you as an individual. Sure, it would be possible to monitor every keystroke each user entered - but who there has that kind of time or interest? If you *can* name someone, I guarantee that their time-consuming activity will eventually take away from the job they're *supposed* to be doing. And if you have something to do on a computer that requires a higher level of privacy than you feel is being afforded to you on your school's system, then do what I do - use your own or pay $5-$8 per hour at a computer store to rent one. I don't like having my privacy invaded any more than anyone else, but I do recognize the fact that getting rid of these "violating" (?) agencies outright and altogether does us more harm than good. Getting rid of credit checking opens us all up to credit fraud. Getting rid of postal inspections opens us up to mail fraud & letter bombings. Getting rid of the police would make us all more vulnerable to crime than we already are. Getting rid of the government (as appealing as that sounds) would deprive us as a society of the ability to pool our resources and respond as a unit with other societies that *are* doing so. We must keep in mind that *society* is a first person and not a third person noun, because by definition it includes everyone. In my opinion, the best way to deal with any violations (or potential violations) of our rights is for everyone to stay aware, stay informed, stay educated, keep an open mind, and participate in organizations that promote positive changes in how we interact with one another. If we don't, we'll all just get more of the same... ------------------------------ From: ranck@earn.net (Bill Ranck) Date: 03 Jan 1995 08:34:22 GMT Subject: Postal Inspection Organization: Universite Paris-Sud, France. ranck@earn.net (Bill Ranck) wrote: Never heard of the Postal Inspectors? They certainly can inspect mail. There just isn't a notice on the mailboxes. Gary McGath (gmcgath@condes.MV.COM) wrote: Two people in this thread have made similar claims (though the other one said it applies only to parcels). Does anyone have some real information on this? I'm reasonably sure it's illegal for postal inspectors to open first class mail without a warrant. I don't know what the situation is for parcels. To be honest, I don't know exactly what powers the Postal Inspection Service has in this regard. They *are* federal agents, with badges and guns. They can open mail under some circumstances. They may require a warrant to do so, but they don't necessarily have to tell you about the warrant ahead of time. I'm not in the USA at the moment, but anyone should be able to go ask at the post office. The postmaster will certainly know who and what the Postal Inspectors are, and probably what they can/can't do. -- * Bill Ranck +33.1.69.41.24.26 ranck@earn.net * * Technical Staff, European Academic & Research Network (EARN) Orsay, France * ------------------------------ From: jaburns@jcpenney.com Date: 03 Jan 95 15:49:32 CDT Subject: Re: 3 Hits and You're Out Organization: JCPenney Co. Inc. writes: my concern with this issue is this: I am planning to buy a house within the next year or two, I was pre approved and received a free card ( 21%) from a local dept. store, all I had to do was use it show my id and it would be activated, ( really, get a fake id, and use it anyway) I was pre approved for something like $2500 I am concernet when the mortgage lender checks my credit, they will count the $2500 and "debt available" when I tore up and threw out the card. Is this correct to assume ? My experience is that this is true. However if you contact the dept store and request that the account be closed, your credit report should show something along the line of "acct closed by customer". I believe this takes it out of the "credit available/ debt possible" calculations. ------------------------------ From: Andrew Grosso Date: 02 Jan 1995 17:58:03 -0500 (EST) Subject: Digital Cash and Security of the Net I would appreciate it if you could post the following: THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ANNOUNCES A LUNCHEON CONFERENCE on DIGITAL CASH, SECURITY & COMMERCIALIZATION OF THE INTERNET ___________ Speakers: Steven Walker, President, Trusted Information Systems Edward D. Young III, Vice President External Affairs & Associate General Counsel, Bell Atlantic Network Services, Inc. Description: With the expansion of our National Information Infrastructure, providing adequate privacy and security is essential to the growth of online commerce and critical to maintaining the global competitiveness of US companies. As President of Trusted Information Systems, Mr. Walker is one of the leaders inproviding the technology to accomplish these goals. He will address the security issues and explain some of the technology, such as cryptography and firewalls used to provide solutions. Ed Young, Vice President & Associate General Counsel at Bell Atlantic will discuss the Growth of Electronic Commerce, online services and the Commercialization of telecommunications networks. The Panel will emphasize the political and legal issues which these developments are raising. Sponsored by: The New Technology Committee of the District of Columbia Bar Association Co-Chairs: Karen Casser and Andrew Grosso ___________________________________________________________________ Date: Thursday, February 2, 1995 Time: 12:00 noon (Deli Lunch provided) Place: District of Columbia Bar Conference Center 1250 H Street, N.W. , B-1 level Cost: $27.00 Members of the Computer Law Section $32.00 Non-members ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mail To: Digital Cash, Security & Commercialization of the Internet Name(s): ___________________________ Bar No(s): ________________ Telephone Number: ___________________ Facsimile Number:__________________ Enclosed is $ _____ for _______ reservations. Checks should be made payable to the "District of Columbia Bar." If you are reserving for more than one person, please include all names. Notify the Sections Office prior to the event if you require any special dietary or physical accommodations to participate in the program. ------------------------------ From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" Date: 29 Dec 1994 10:50:22 -0600 (CST) Subject: Info on CPD [unchanged since 12/29/94] Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee The Computer Privacy Digest is a forum for discussion on the effect of technology on privacy or vice versa. The digest is moderated and gatewayed into the USENET newsgroup comp.society.privacy (Moderated). Submissions should be sent to comp-privacy@uwm.edu and administrative requests to comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu. This digest is a forum with information contributed via Internet eMail. Those who understand the technology also understand the ease of forgery in this very free medium. Statements, therefore, should be taken with a grain of salt and it should be clear that the actual contributor might not be the person whose email address is posted at the top. Any user who openly wishes to post anonymously should inform the moderator at the beginning of the posting. He will comply. If you read this from the comp.society.privacy newsgroup and wish to contribute a message, you should simply post your contribution. As a moderated newsgroup, attempts to post to the group are normally turned into eMail to the submission address below. On the other hand, if you read the digest eMailed to you, you generally need only use the Reply feature of your mailer to contribute. If you do so, it is best to modify the "Subject:" line of your mailing. Contributions to CPD should be submitted, with appropriate, substantive SUBJECT: line, otherwise they may be ignored. They must be relevant, sound, in good taste, objective, cogent, coherent, concise, and nonrepetitious. Diversity is welcome, but not personal attacks. Do not include entire previous messages in responses to them. Include your name & legitimate Internet FROM: address, especially from .UUCP and .BITNET folks. Anonymized mail is not accepted. All contributions considered as personal comments; usual disclaimers apply. All reuses of CPD material should respect stated copyright notices, and should cite the sources explicitly; as a courtesy; publications using CPD material should obtain permission from the contributors. Contributions generally are acknowledged within 24 hours of submission. If selected, they are printed within two or three days. The moderator reserves the right to delete extraneous quoted material. He may change the SUBJECT: line of an article in order to make it easier for the reader to follow a discussion. He will not, however, alter or edit or append to the text except for purely technical reasons. A library of back issues is available on ftp.cs.uwm.edu [129.89.9.18]. Login as "ftp" with password identifying yourid@yoursite. The archives are in the directory "pub/comp-privacy". People with gopher capability can most easily access the library at gopher.cs.uwm.edu. Mosaic users will find it at gopher://gopher.cs.uwm.edu. Older archives are also held at ftp.pica.army.mil [129.139.160.133]. ---------------------------------+----------------------------------------- Leonard P. Levine | Moderator of: Computer Privacy Digest Professor of Computer Science | and comp.society.privacy University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Post: comp-privacy@uwm.edu Box 784, Milwaukee WI 53201 | Information: comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu | Gopher: gopher.cs.uwm.edu levine@cs.uwm.edu | Mosaic: gopher://gopher.cs.uwm.edu ---------------------------------+----------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of Computer Privacy Digest V6 #002 ****************************** .